The Belligerents - Voices

Brissy-bred psychedelic indie stalwarts The Belligerents have always been a layered prospect, its individual members already well known around the traps for being vital parts of — thus partially defined by — fellow local outfits such as Orphans Orphans, Moses Gunn Collective, The Furrs, Morning Harvey and Family Jordan.

The combined effort of The Belligerents, then, has always been somewhat hitched to its pedigree, but with just-released new single Voices, the band have well and truly made a statement that this project stands apart from everything else that has come before and, moreover, is here to stay.

The track made its Aussie premiere on triple j's Good Nights program with Linda Marigliano this week, even being picked up for rotation within 24 hours of that unveiling, and now theMusic.com.au is proud to be able to bring you its first public airing online today. Self-produced at Airlock Studios, at which bassist Konstantin Kersting operates as in-house engineer, Voices is a demonstration of a band asserting its own identity, informed by contemporaries such as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Tame Impala, all psych-soaked experimental grooves and eclecticism — which, according to Kersting, was absolutely intentional.

"With this one, we ended up going all out in the breakdown section," Kersting said of the new cut in a statement. "There's lots of weird shit happening: pitch-shifted vocals, bongos, glass bottles, laughing, whispering, and a whole lot of other stuff that you'll only be able to pick up if you're really listening in closely."

We suggest heeding the advice post-haste, then cast your eye across the tour dates in theGuide or on The Music App to see when you can catch The Belligerents on the road in support of the new goods soon; they kick off at Nambour's Big Pineapple Festival at the end of the month before picking up for a five-date headline run starting in the Gold Coast on 5 June.